2016: A Dance to the Music of Time discussion
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Anthony Powell
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Planned or Out of Control?
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Jonathan
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Apr 17, 2016 01:43PM
Proust's novel started off as a three volume work but grew into a seven volume monster as he added more and more; Zola's Rougon-Macquart series was intended to be a ten-volume piece but ended up consisting of twenty novels as it became increasingly popular; so, does anyone know how much Powell had planned the structure of 'Dance' beforehand or was it just something that grew? Was it always going to be a twelve novel set?
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I've not read this definitively but I am sure it was planned. Four movements (or seasons) - 12 books (months). That must have always been his intention. I have his memoirs on my shelf which I feel sure will conclusively prove it was intentional. I'll let you know when I get round to reading them.
Thanks for answering Nigeyb & Karen. It would be very interesting if you can uncover any more on this. On Wikipedia it states: 'Powell returned to novel writing and began to ponder a long novel-sequence. Over the next 30 years, he produced his major work: A Dance to the Music of Time.' Which is fair enough but doesn't really help us that much.
As each novel seems very structured and the writing is tight it's tempting (at least I think so) to think that Powell had it all mapped out in detail at the beginning.
But he couldn't have had it totally planned out as, after a quick look in Spurling, I notice that the last volume takes place in 1971; Powell obviously couldn't have had this part planned, at least not in detail, way back in 1957.
Nigeyb wrote: "I've not read this definitively but I am sure it was planned. Four movements (or seasons) - 12 books (months). That must have always been his intention. I have his memoirs on my shelf which I feel ..."Hmmmm....was that structure there from the start or did it evolve? If you can dig into his memoirs that would be great or I may see if I can get them from the library.
Jonathan wrote: "As each novel seems very structured and the writing is tight it's tempting (at least I think so) to think that Powell had it all mapped out in detail at the beginning."According to an obituary of Powell:
Although Powell wrote "Dance" over 25 years, from 1951 to 1975, he kept track of its hundreds of characters in his head, using no files or charts. Writing, he believed, must be as "intuitive as possible" and therefore without careful planning.
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/mar/...
Thanks Teresa. Maybe he did what he says he did but I sometimes doubt what people (writers as well, as I believe that writers are people) say as I remember people at university claiming to have written their Physics PhD thesis stoned and/or in the back of a farm truck in Spain etc.. Silly people. :-)
Jonathan wrote: "Thanks Teresa. Maybe he did what he says he did but I sometimes doubt what people (writers as well, as I believe that writers are people) say as I remember people at university claiming to have wri..."Writers lie. :)
I am not a writer, but it seems to me that planned or not, eventually the characters would take control and decide for themselves the direction they would take. And if he had planned it all out, then took 25 years to write the entire series, he would certainly have been a much more mature man writing the final chapters than he was in the planning, so changes in the structure and plotting would have been inevitable. In my humble opinion, it's a little of both.
Diane wrote: "In my humble opinion, it's a little of both.."I agree, Diane. Even if the writer starts off knowing where he wants things to go to a certain extent, over such a span of time, he changes, all kinds of things will change.
And what I meant by my facetious, frivolous comment is that if a writer attempts to explain his method (not that he should have to) he's not really going to be able to explain such a complex process that rises organically from his material.
This is a great question to think about for those of us who have ever considered writing serial or like me enjoy them to almost addictive proportions ! HA! I have to agree with Diane that Powell probably created a plan but as he continued to create the characters did take on a life of their own and had to be influenced, also, by the reaction of the reading public . I to have a wonderful autobiography of Powell and can read more to find out about this topic . I may try to find it by flipping through or not ! We can just wait and find the answer to this mystery or not ! Some things are just never known for sure ! I am loving this series ! I can't wait to watch the film version at the end. I always love to compare those things !
